Galway City homeowners have been spared an increase in Local Property Tax after councillors voted down a proposal to add 15% to the LPT bill next year.

City councillors followed the lead of their country cousins on Galway County Council, who also rejected an LPT hike proposed by management.

At Monday’s Council meeting, Director of Services for Finance, Helen Kilroy, warned of a gaping hole in the authority’s budget for next year – a deficit of €7.4m.

She said an increase of 15% in LPT would net the Council €1.3m.

Green Party councillors Niall Murphy and Martina O’Connor proposed the hike but their motion was rejected by all other councillors including FF, FG, Labour, Social Democrats and Independents.

Most councillors who spoke against raising LPT said families were already struggling with higher mortgages and spiralling cost-of-living.

The two Greens abstained on a vote to maintain the LPT at its current level.

Cllr Murphy said Galway was an “outlier” in keeping LPT low. He said taxes would have to be raised elsewhere or services would be reduced.

Galway County Council CE Liam Conneally had urged vouncillors in September to increase LPT by 155 next year. He said it would bring in an extra €2.3m income to help plug a deficit of €8.5m. But they unanimously agreed to retain the current rate of LPT.